Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

Supervisor: Dr. Carl de Boer, The University of British Columbia. Many new moms experience postpartum depression (PPD), but most don't get the help they need. We plan to create a tool called "PPD-Predict" using AI technology. This tool will try to figure out who will improve with a therapy known as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). We hope this will lead to better treatment for PPD. We aim to see if PPD-Predict can accurately identify who will improve with CBT: those predicted to get better will show more improvement than those not predicted to improve. Our project has two main steps. First, we'll gather lots of information from 340 moms to help our tool learn how to make good predictions. In the second step, we'll test the tool on two different groups of 170 moms, one that our tool says will get better and one that our tool says will not, to ensure it works well. We'll pay attention to changes between these two groups in how sad or anxious the moms feel and how well they bond with their babies. If this works, our tool could help reduce the impact of PPD on new moms and their families. Our research is a team effort between experts from two universities: the University of British Columbia and McMaster University. The project will take about four years to complete, from start to finish. We'll conduct our research ethically and hope it can change how mental healthcare is provided to new mothers, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic.